My dad is listening to a band concert on TV, did we really sound that bad? How do high school music teachers not kill themselves before they retire?
12.27.2005
Who is in the area and when will they be leaving? I'm leaving Saturday morning and aside from thoughts about making a pillow case for my body pillow (which would necessitate a trip to the fabric store, which people are invited to join if they want), I really have no plans. I'd invite people to my house, but my mother might freak out since the house is not in pristine condition (it only looks "lived in" rather than dirty, but she is a mom). But coming to my house would be fun if only to play with Catcher, the new kitten that my mom got a few months ago. She has six toes on her front paws. She got high on catnip this morning, but this photo is from last night.
My dad is listening to a band concert on TV, did we really sound that bad? How do high school music teachers not kill themselves before they retire?
My dad is listening to a band concert on TV, did we really sound that bad? How do high school music teachers not kill themselves before they retire?
12.12.2005
Guess who doesn't want to do her homework...
20 People You Can Think Of Right Off Your Head:
1. Jillian
2. Andy
3. Jeffrey
4. Chris
5. Jon
6. Mike
7. Roommate Erin
8. Erin’s Mike
9. Mormon Aaron
10. Fiction Erin
11. Rachel
12. Ursula
13. Jamie
14. Lauren
15. Lisa
16. Rakhi
17. Erica
18. John Henry
19. Eric Miller
20. Eric Jung
.__________________________________________________
How did you meet 13?
Debate.
What would you do if you had never met 5?
Still be single, I guess.
Have you ever liked 3?
Yes. A long-ass time ago.
Would 4 and 11 make a good couple?
Hell no. He’d kill her.
Would 1 and 7 make a lovely couple?
They’re not lesbians…but even if they were, no.
On a scale of 1-10, how cute is 14
A 10, of course.
What language does 10 speak?
English, some Spanish, barely any German
Who is 8 going out with?
Roommate Erin (a.k.a. #7)
Is 9 a boy or a girl?
Boy
When was the last time you talked to 18?
A year ago
What is 1's favorite band?
Everclear
Does 2 have any siblings?
yes
Would you ever date 7?
Not in a million years. Not even if I was a desperate lesbian.
Is 15 single?
She’s married.
What is 4's middle name?
Jonathan, I believe
What is 2's fantasy?
To be rich,to drive a nice car, and to have a beautiful wife
Would 17 and 19 make a good couple?
Once upon a time, yes…but it didn’t work out.
Whats 16's favorite color?
Good question
What school does 6 go to?
UAA
Where does 9 live?
Originally Utah, but Anchorage for now
how do you know 12?
Orchestra, debate, forensics, mock trial.
Would you make out with 1?
For money, or just for fun?
Are 5 and 6 best friends?
As a matter of fact, yes.
What is your history with 20?
He dated my friend, a.k.a. #17. And we were on the debate team together. And his sister is one of my best friends.
Do you like 5?
Kinda.
What about 10?
I barely know her.
Do you like number 6?
I like him alright, in a friendly sort of way.
11.29.2005
Sorry Urs & everyone else waiting for baby info! You are totally right about being busy - it's not really busy, it's just that this little thing needs someone 24/7 every second of the day pretty much. I'm finally over checking on her in the crib every 5 minutes, though :) I never really posted much detail about the whole process, but out of everyone I'm guessing you girls are probably most interested - if not sorry for the book post!
So the whole birth process was amazing. I can't believe I did it. My doctor induced me at 5 using this little pill that they insert into the vagina and it softens the cervix and helps the dialating to begin. I was already at a 2-3 to begin with. At 9 she came back to check on me, and my water had broke, but she still used the amnio hook thingy to break it completely. Let me tell you - I'm a neat freak, sort of, and to have water stuff gushing out of you everytime you moved and to not be able to control it was really gross. I felt bad that it was going all over the floor and stuff, but not much I could do about it. By 11 I was getting pretty uncomfortable and asked for the epidural. The epidural felt like a bee sting in my back - actually that was the numbing shot, the actual epidural was a weird feeling. Not painful at all, but I could feel pressure and something moving. The first epidural only worked on 1 side of my body and I was still feeling contractions. I managed to 6cms before they came back and did another epidural. This one hurt like a none other, but it worked and I was in heaven shortly after! Not being able to move my legs and feet was a little strange, though. I managed to sleep from about 2-5:30 or so. I woke up and felt tons of pressure. I got checked and was about 9cms but to push now would be worthless because I'd be wasting my energy and right now the baby needed to rely on contractions to get moved down more. The pressure was not pleasant - it felt like a mix between a really bad stomach flu cramp and being constipated super bad. Finally, at around 7:30ish my doctor came in and checked and gave the okay to push. I was pretty freaked out to start pushing, but it felt so good to push. I can't really describe it - other than it really felt like it was releasing a lot of the pressure. Pushing wasn't exactly a clean process either - although I couldn't see and no one really said anything when you push a baby down everything in your butt comes out, too! I pushed until 9 - not constant, you only push during a contraction. It didn't seem this long at all. When she came out it was nothing short of amazing. I could feel her body coming out - it wasn't painful at all. Jacob said her cord was around her neck and the doctor un hooked it and then she wrenched on the baby and pulled her out. I didn't know, but Jacob video taped the entire thing. I haven't gotten the nerve to watch it all yet. After she was born they put her on my tummy and Jacob and I were crying and holding her and it was just amazing. They took her to weigh her and clean her up and then the doctor delivered my placenta. Apparently, mine was really large. I did tear just a little, but the doctor couldn't stitch it up because my uterus decided it just wanted to quit and not contract back down. I lost a lot of blood really fast and they had to rush me to OR to do surgery to stop the bleeding. They said I was going to die like 4 times and that was the worst feeling in the world. Probably, worse for Jacob then me because he couldn't do anything and just had to wait. First, they did a D&C where they go into your uterus and scrape everything out - thinking part of my placenta was still stuck in there. Only a few little pieces came out and I was continueing to bleed tons. Next she gave me a shot in my uterus and this started the contracting process. If that hadn't worked they would have had to remove my entire uterus. It was extremely painful before going to surgery as the doctor was 'massaging' my uterus from the inside while punching it from the outside trying to get it to start. I ended up needing 2 units of blood and was pretty out of it the rest of the day on Friday. I don't even remember Jacob's family being there after she was born or my dad leaving for my brother's football game or anything like that. I didn't get to hold Ella until around 6 that night to feed her. I had to stay in the hospital until Sunday and am so glad to be home! I'm feeling back to my old self again - everything seems to be healing up nicely. The only thing I still get occasionaly is a back ache right where the 1st epidural went in.
So Ella is getting fussy and Jacob says he can only provide egg nog or chocolate milk, so I better go feed her :) Jacob is amazing and I can't imagine having to go through this alone - I have so much respect for single parents. Ella is absolutely wonderful, and is very content. She only cries to let us know she's hungry or wants to be held or has a messy diaper. She loves to play lots and smiles tons - not on purpose, mostly when she has gas, but still it's a smile :) Thanks for the card and frog, Sig - she likes to stare at it right now, it's very bright! Off to feed - sorry for not updating sooner!
So the whole birth process was amazing. I can't believe I did it. My doctor induced me at 5 using this little pill that they insert into the vagina and it softens the cervix and helps the dialating to begin. I was already at a 2-3 to begin with. At 9 she came back to check on me, and my water had broke, but she still used the amnio hook thingy to break it completely. Let me tell you - I'm a neat freak, sort of, and to have water stuff gushing out of you everytime you moved and to not be able to control it was really gross. I felt bad that it was going all over the floor and stuff, but not much I could do about it. By 11 I was getting pretty uncomfortable and asked for the epidural. The epidural felt like a bee sting in my back - actually that was the numbing shot, the actual epidural was a weird feeling. Not painful at all, but I could feel pressure and something moving. The first epidural only worked on 1 side of my body and I was still feeling contractions. I managed to 6cms before they came back and did another epidural. This one hurt like a none other, but it worked and I was in heaven shortly after! Not being able to move my legs and feet was a little strange, though. I managed to sleep from about 2-5:30 or so. I woke up and felt tons of pressure. I got checked and was about 9cms but to push now would be worthless because I'd be wasting my energy and right now the baby needed to rely on contractions to get moved down more. The pressure was not pleasant - it felt like a mix between a really bad stomach flu cramp and being constipated super bad. Finally, at around 7:30ish my doctor came in and checked and gave the okay to push. I was pretty freaked out to start pushing, but it felt so good to push. I can't really describe it - other than it really felt like it was releasing a lot of the pressure. Pushing wasn't exactly a clean process either - although I couldn't see and no one really said anything when you push a baby down everything in your butt comes out, too! I pushed until 9 - not constant, you only push during a contraction. It didn't seem this long at all. When she came out it was nothing short of amazing. I could feel her body coming out - it wasn't painful at all. Jacob said her cord was around her neck and the doctor un hooked it and then she wrenched on the baby and pulled her out. I didn't know, but Jacob video taped the entire thing. I haven't gotten the nerve to watch it all yet. After she was born they put her on my tummy and Jacob and I were crying and holding her and it was just amazing. They took her to weigh her and clean her up and then the doctor delivered my placenta. Apparently, mine was really large. I did tear just a little, but the doctor couldn't stitch it up because my uterus decided it just wanted to quit and not contract back down. I lost a lot of blood really fast and they had to rush me to OR to do surgery to stop the bleeding. They said I was going to die like 4 times and that was the worst feeling in the world. Probably, worse for Jacob then me because he couldn't do anything and just had to wait. First, they did a D&C where they go into your uterus and scrape everything out - thinking part of my placenta was still stuck in there. Only a few little pieces came out and I was continueing to bleed tons. Next she gave me a shot in my uterus and this started the contracting process. If that hadn't worked they would have had to remove my entire uterus. It was extremely painful before going to surgery as the doctor was 'massaging' my uterus from the inside while punching it from the outside trying to get it to start. I ended up needing 2 units of blood and was pretty out of it the rest of the day on Friday. I don't even remember Jacob's family being there after she was born or my dad leaving for my brother's football game or anything like that. I didn't get to hold Ella until around 6 that night to feed her. I had to stay in the hospital until Sunday and am so glad to be home! I'm feeling back to my old self again - everything seems to be healing up nicely. The only thing I still get occasionaly is a back ache right where the 1st epidural went in.
So Ella is getting fussy and Jacob says he can only provide egg nog or chocolate milk, so I better go feed her :) Jacob is amazing and I can't imagine having to go through this alone - I have so much respect for single parents. Ella is absolutely wonderful, and is very content. She only cries to let us know she's hungry or wants to be held or has a messy diaper. She loves to play lots and smiles tons - not on purpose, mostly when she has gas, but still it's a smile :) Thanks for the card and frog, Sig - she likes to stare at it right now, it's very bright! Off to feed - sorry for not updating sooner!
11.28.2005
11.23.2005
17 Bottles Of
Oh, and I don't have a stepchild. But I assure you, when I do...you'll all be the first to know. :-)
Oh, and I don't have a stepchild. But I assure you, when I do...you'll all be the first to know. :-)
17 Bottles Of
I don't live in Rapids, Man. I now live in Madison. So that should be changed. That is all.
I don't live in Rapids, Man. I now live in Madison. So that should be changed. That is all.
11.15.2005
Ella should be here Thursday night or Friday morning sometime! Just wanted to let everyone know. I sent an email, but I'm sure I missed a few addresses - the induction is scheduled to begin Thursday at 5PM and it might take a little longer because I'm opting to have cervitol (that's probably not spelled anywhere near how it should be) rather than pitocin at first. Jacob has everyone's email and I'm sure he'll send a link with the code to see her pictures on the hospital site shortly after she arrives - Sig will be getting a phone call right away so if you want her to relay the info to you let her know. Jacob will probably get the pictures posted to his website up quick, too, and maybe a short video clip. Don't worry we aren't taking any gross ones of her half in half out or anything like that - she'll be nice and clean before the cameras start snapping pictures! Free high speed Internet access is probably Jacob's dream come true - I can't see him being at the hospital with me for 2 days and not being able to go online! So check his site for pics and info as I probably won't be in any shape to get online for awhile - especially since our computer is in the basement and I'm not a big fan of steps with huge swollen feet and a sore you know what - you'd never think you use crotch muscles nearly as much as you really do. (I'm guessing an 8 pound baby won't make those muscles feel any better anytime soon either!)
11.02.2005
Wow, Wisconsin has some competition! I thought for sure when I went to the link it'd be about a raving mad Wisconsin deer hunter. How could I forget, it's only bow season - the real rednecks will come out during gun season which happens to be the weekend I'm due. Jacob is really hoping she comes early or a few days late so he won't have to miss opening day every year. Not like you really celebrate birthdays all day long - usually just for a few hours during a party, so it's not like he'd have to miss the entire day. I have a feeling that's just him talking big though - he's more like the kind of hunter that goes out when he wakes up, eats slim jims in his stand, and takes a few naps while up there. My dad and rest of the guys are more hardcore - up and in their stand by sunrise and brave any type of weather. The most awful picture of my brother is from his 1st deer hunting season - he fell asleep in his stand and my dad made sure to capture the moment about a billion times!
10.30.2005
Remember Rhiney? From debate? I supposedly draped him, according to Frenzel? Yeah...he found me on MySpace. Apparently he lives in Washington now. Anyway...he had this quiz on his MySpace page, and I took it just to see:
 If i was a serial killer i would be Jeffrey Dahmer.The psycho killer of the 90's, Jeffery dahmer abducted, drugged, sodomized, tortured, murdered and devoured his young male victims one at a time. After receiving calls of a rancid stench emanating from dahmers apartment, investigators found the decomposing remains of over 12 young men. Dahmer would drug his victims, then proceed to drill a hole in their head, inserting acid into the brain, keeping the body alive but killing all other functions. he called them his "sex zombies". After the body would die, he would then proceed to mutilate and pose the body, taking pictures, and cooking and eating what was left over. Kill count: 12-13 Find what serial killer you would be, Take the Serial Killer Quiz now! 10.26.2005
Just wanted to post a few links you might be interested in. For the past two years now, Jacob & a buddy from college have been working on making a feature length film. The big movie premiere is taking place tomorrow night at the Ripon Theater. I know you all live all over the country so I really don't expect to see any of you there. The Oshkosh Northwestern ran a front page article about the movie, and Jacob has created a website for the movie. If you're interested you can even purchase a DVD of the movie on the website. I'm so excited to see this all come together for him and looking forward to seeing lots of friends and family tomorrow night. This is a super busy week for us - we bought a new car last night (2003 Buick Rendezvous), tonight I have a doctor's appointment at 5:30 and then we have childbirth education classes at 6, tomorrow is the big movie premiere, and Friday we're going back to Crapids to see Andrew Ironside (he made many of the songs that were played at our wedding) perform. Hope everyone has a good weekend - Sig yours has to be better than your last one!
10.23.200510.21.2005
Sorry for all the dumb Tribune posts - but you gotta check out the Moments To Remember for October - Kendra Kaiser is marrying Paul Dauenhauer. Georgia Kath (she graduated with me) is marrying this Hispanic guy that totally looks like he has no clue what he's doing. I just got through the first page - check it out for yourself
http://www.wisinfo.com/dailytribune and then go to the Moments of Life - the last thing under the News column on the left.
Anyone remember that Spannish teacher from LHS - Torres? I can't remember what her maiden name was, though. She got married during my senior year (99-00) cuz I interned for Frau Borski and got to hear all that stuff - her first name was Lisa and she had really bad dress/hair going on. Anyways, I just read in the Tribune that her and Edgar had a baby boy.
Another funny part of the Tribune today was an article about the increase of wild pigs - to be aware and shoot them if they are seen. Nice - encourage a bunch of drunk hicks with guns to kill a certain type of animal - I wonder how many dogs or people or any other living thing will be mistaken for a wild pig! Deer season is hard enough! 10.18.2005
Could Wisconsin Rapids be more uptight, please? Apparently some Jesus Krispies from St. Luke's -- and Lisa, here I'm not referring to anyone who loves Jesus or to anyone who goes to St. Lukes, but to the hardcore assholes -- have been leaving crosses and Krispy threats on cars parked at the G Spot. Additionally, they're trying to get the city council to regulate "sexually oriented businesses" in Wisconsin Rapids. Anyway...if you want to read about it...: http://www.wisinfo.com/dailytribune/wrdtlocal/284828269482042.shtml
10.17.2005
Join in on the fun - go to Jacob's website and make a guess of when you think Ella will be born, how much she will weigh, and how long she will be.
10.01.2005
Two things:
1) As of today I only have 50 DAYS of being pregnant left - not sure to be happy or scared crapless at this point! 2) What do you think of William Bennet and his comments about aborting all black babies to reduce the crime rate? I listened to the entire radio clip, and he was sort of answering another even more stupid prediction, but still did he really need to say something like that? 9.03.2005
Only in the Rapids Tribune Interesting day of court briefs!
Sat, Sep 3, 2005 Briefs Animal sex offender sent back to jail A 19-year-old Arpin man was sentenced in Wood County Circuit Court to six months in jail after his probation for mistreating animals was revoked. Joseph P. Lemay, whose current address is listed as the Wood County jail, was convicted Dec. 20 of sexual gratification with an animal and intentional mistreatment of an animal. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail with work release and placed on two years of probation. According to the original criminal complaint, Lemay had sexual contact with a dog and a cat, injuring both animals. According to court documents, on May 27, Lemay rented pornographic videos on a family member's cable system without the person's knowledge. He also was found entering a park where children often play, which was a violation of his probation rules. Owen man gets 2 years for burglary A 20-year-old Owen man was sentenced in Wood County Circuit Court to two years of probation for being a party to the crime of burglary. Brooke R. Schoelzel of W4207 Willow Road also was fined $336 and ordered to pay his share of $314 restitution. An additional charge of being a party to the crime of burglary was dismissed. According to the criminal complaint, on Oct. 25, Schoelzel stole a bottle of vodka, beer, cigarettes, a container of beef jerky and a ceramic beer mug from Tiney's Pub and Grub in the town Rock. 8.31.2005
I'm having a conundrum. I'm slated to teach my own freshman English class next year, and to be partially responsible for teaching it next semester. This semester, I'm tutoring in the campus writing center and I'm also taking a "How to Teach Freshman English!" class.
The problem is that I don't believe in freshman English. I'm sorry, but you can't transform a grammatically challenged person with minimal research skills into a functional writer in fifteen weeks. You just can't. Either you've been on the ball since elementary school, doing your Daily Oral Language and writing your book reports, or you haven't. Structuring a paper, putting the commas in the right place, reading comprehension...these are skills that one acquires over the course of years, not weeks. Not to mention that the English-challenged kids don't want to learn how to write a paper anyway. They just don't. The do their 10-pagers the night before they're due, without a thought to all of the punctuation and organization lessons they've slept through all semester. I've got a small amount of experience in this field. I was a "student mentor" for my Jew's freshman English class once upon a time. She was pretty hopeless about the whole affair...she knew that the improvement from the beginning of the semester to the end was minimal, that she hadn't made a writer out of anyone in her class. My Jew had no delusions. So what can I do? I get a tuition waiver and a stipend. I would, eventually, like a job -- and this experience will help. I just have to suck it up, smile and nod, and pretend that I'm doing something worthwhile. And that blows.
The Onion changed their site yet again, and this time, its even harder to ignore the obnoxious ads. I don't know why I still check the publication every week, I rarely find things on the website very amusing anymore. I think The Onion has really gone downhill since their move to NYC back in 2002. Savage Love is still good, but thats because Dan Savage is still the same, if not even more awesome with age. What are your thoughts on the way things have changed over at The Onion?
8.30.2005
How are all you girls doing? Thought I'd post something since the site is looking all new and snazzy and there's not been many new posts lately. The whole being pregnant thing is definitely hitting me lately. My belly button is half popped out (just the lower half)and I have outgrown all but 2 of my maternity shirts. This week I'm hitting up Motherhood Maternity and hoping to get lots of good sales. Ella is growing so much that my skin is burning (even with LOTS of lotion) from all of the extra stretching. I am going to have Jacob take some good pictures of me and the belly in a few weeks (when I'm 30 weeks along) and he will definitely edit out the nasty stretch marks! I'll post a link to those when they are all ready.
(Lauren - remember Kim Barber at Rainbow Falls and all those stretch marks that came out the sides of her swimming suit? I tried my suit on and was totally happy when I didn't see any of mine sneaking out of the suit, yet!) Jacob and I are packing our apartment up and house searching around the Oshkosh/Appleton area. He's had some great interviews and some promising leads so within the next week or so I'm sure he'll have a job all lined up. I'm anxiously awaiting my first subbing call of the year - I wonder how early I'll get called?! Guess who is turning an even number in 12 days?! I love being an even number, I don't have any idea why, but I just do! I'll be back in Crapids for my birthday for the first time since I turned 18 - the shower Amy is throwing us is on the 10th. How's school going for everyone? Lauren did you start yet? Erica what kind of fun bug stuff are you doing? Did you guys get anything from the hurricane? Have you heard if Tim & Sara are okay? Sig what's going on with you - how's the writing going? Urs - thanks for working on the blog - looks great :) 8.20.2005
Signe let me be an administrator (thank you :] ). I made a few changes, the first was my idea to have a list of our current residences on the side panel. I just put down the locations I knew, so let me know the actual locations. The other changes I made were widening the side panel by 50 pixels and changing the archive display format so it isn't as confusing.
I'm thinking about doing some other, mostly CSS related, things. One of those concerns the three links on the side panel. How do people feel about those? I don't frequent Fark, but have Homestar and The Onion on my own blog. I also wonder how useful they really are. If anybody has any other ideas for what they want to see here, let me know. Note: I have re-entered this entry and deleted the old one so as to edit the comments from the old one. I just entered all of those en masse. Lauren, let me know if you are comfortable with a link to your journal. Finally, do people have any other ideas? Special additions or ideas for different colors? I think I'm going to play with the way links display, let me know if you like it or not. I can do a lot of things with fonts, sizes and borders and possibly more so just suggest anything you think of. 8.15.2005
Anyone interested in playing some online fantasy football? If you are interested I’ve set up a league using Yahoo and you are welcome to join in on all the fun! It’s free and if you’ve never played before it’s pretty easy and Yahoo guides you step by step through the whole process. We will be having a live draft on August 31st at night sometime. You just need to login 10 minutes ahead of time and have Java - if you can’t make the draft you can pre-rank your players and the computer will do the drafting for you.
Please comment on this post or email me at LaGraf@Charter.net and I will email you back with the league ID and password - also feel free to invite other friends and family members - the more people the better! 8.13.2005
"Lesbian [swans], next on Geraldo."
"Ooooh...yummy." Come on, kids. What movie is that from? This, by the way, is one of my boss's favorite games. He picks really obscure movie quotes that drive us all nuts. Yesterday's was, "Why is the carpet wet, Todd?" Turns out it's from Christmas Vacation. I had forgotten that there were neighbors in that movie. 8.05.2005
Working in the remote shelving facility is fun - I never deal with patrons or answer the phone, I just enter data about old books into the computer and gab with the co-workers. Sometimes, I see an amusing title - usually, like Ukranians in America or Alas Poor Yorick, they remind me of mst3k lines.
Today, I came across a very interesting book called Books that were Fatal to their Authors, the call number in Dewey is 809 D61. It was written in 1895 and has information about a bunch of authors grouped into the subject of their fatal book. If google wasn't monitoring me for speed, I might have read a little story or two. 7.27.2005
I was checking out thefacebook to see who might have joined from LHS Class of '99. I saw Katie Fara - it took me a while to remember exactly who she was. There are a few people on there that were WAY above me on the populatiry totem pole and sometimes, I feel almost tempted to add them to my friends. I mean I know who they are, and they would most likely remember my name, but we were never friends, yet that "Add to Friends" button is right there. Its kind of odd how the internet can make you feel closer to someone that you never bothered to remember.
7.18.2005
So, I met Keith and Tiffany in August, 2003. They were the roommates of a friend of mine. I didn't know that they were dating and Keith was rather flirtacious. It was only when I realized that there were two bedrooms in the house and Mike occupied one by himself that I learned the truth. The couple actually seemed very well suited to eachother - they had identical tastes and while they were never very physical around other people, they seemed to care for eachother.
Then, totally out of the blue [at least to me], I learned that they broke up this weekend. Now I don't have a lot of contact with either - Tiffany has been in Nevada for the past month and I only see Keith when he is at work - so I wouldn't be expected to say or do anything, but I still feel weird. Its almost similar to a death, like when Mr. Henry's father died, except there was a social convention that allowed me to express my sympathy [aka I sent a sympathy card]. There are no such things as "Sorry You Broke Up" cards or social conventions that allow people to express that. Basically, I'm feeling confused and a little bit frustrated. 7.13.2005
Anybody reading this blog anymore?!
We just got back from having the ultrasound done! No more calling our baby an 'it!' We found out that we're going to have a baby girl! I am so excited! Jacob even shed a tear or two when the ultrasound tech told us! It was so amazing - we could see her spine, her brain, her heart, her stomach, kidneys, liver, and all her fingers and toes! The hospital we go to uses the 3D and 4D ultrasounds, too! She is a little camera shy and kept putting her hands over her face and sucking her thumb. Jacob is scanning and will be posting some of the pictures we got to keep on his website soon. Check them out sometime! Even though it was a day after our anniversary; it was a great anniversary 'present' (sort of)! 7.08.2005
This blog is sucking big time! How about one of those fun little quizzes :)
What kind of underwear are you? I'm: A pair of Polka-dot Boyshorts! Many people are often envious and jealous of you. You are original but not too bold. You will stay out of the spotlight and be productive. You may be reserved or quiet but not afraid to speak your mind when the right time comes. You may be viewed as a push-over but you are anything but! For some reason the picture won't copy and paste, oh well :) 6.16.2005
About a week ago, I was walking under the Grad Library Stacks and saw a FedEx truck. Then I saw a guy that I swore was Frank Mojolovich (if thats how you spell his name - main day custodian at LHS). Turned out he was just a guy that was way too tan and had gross facial hair with face grease.
Anyway, Erica, I agree with you, completely. I got an email on Tuesday that the flags were to be at half-staff on Wednesday for a soldier killed in some explosion in Iraq. Since Wednesday this month is a day that I spend partially on the seventh floor of a building with a view of the UM Central Campus flag, I was reminded constantly of that. My mind has a reached a point where it can't mourn anymore. I really, really need to make an effort to write more letters to congresspeople.... I just feel so goddamn powerless But there was some good news floating around my school mailing lists this morning: Freedom to Read Amendment Passes by 238-187 Vote It is a big victory for librarians and patrons, of course...... but it feels so inconsequential in light of the far larger injustices in the world. Then you add all the issues that existed before 9/11 - like marijuana. The feds decided that no matter what the local voters decide, medical marijuana is illegal and they'll bust your grandma for trying to alleviate some pain without powerful chemical pain killers while hics set up meth labs all over the midwest. Then again, I recently saw something promissing on a local cable access channel - a former cop talking about LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Its nice to see someone besides users come out against the war on drugs. 6.13.2005
At the same time, the family has made a lot of false accusations in the past. The mother accused the father of child abuse in a custody hearing. The mother has been convicted of welfare fraud. The family sued J.C. Penney for something or another. And the kid apparently changed his story during cross examination. In other words, they're not exactly credible folks. Reasonable doubt, you know.
Is Michael Jackson creepy? Sure. Can a grown man have Hustler in his bedroom if he wants to? Sure. Those are my thoughts on that. 5.29.20055.28.20055.26.2005
In addition to that....
I am pretty sure that I am going to be going to my parents' place on Saturday afternoon, spending Sunday there and then heading back on Monday. I don't know if I'll make it out to Marshfield (might be too much of a drive) and I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I think Belts and Taco Johns are definitly in the picture! Its too bad the Bean isn't at home this weekend
Just in case anyone will be in the Rapids area over Memorial Day weekend you are invited to stop by our campsite at the NORTH Wood County park - it's towards Marshfield off of A. We are at campsite #93 and will be there around noon tomorrow until 3ish on Monday probably!
5.22.2005
I've been talking with Alec about this question but he is just as confused as I am.
I'm not supposed to be home now, in fact, I should be in Sandusky, Ohio (the hometown of Sugar Kane/Kowalczyk from Some Like it Hot (aka one of my very favorite movies, and my favorite Marilyn Monroe flick)) in a tent with my boyfriend. Instead, I drove home at midnight, and am here writing this post and talking to people at quarter after four in the morning. The story is long and complex about that, but the root was the relentless browbeating of my boyfriend by the outing organizer for something that he had apologized for, had no adverse effects, and could not be undone (but simply could have been bad though the chance was so incredibly insignificant). The outing organizer had made many posts on the online thread for this outing that he all strongly indicated that he really didn't like my boyfriend, so I met him with this in mind. Then he relentlessly called my boyfriend an asshole, and, in the course of doing that, very sternly looked at him and was like "seriously, I want to kill you" Later, I am to believe that the organizer and my boyfriend are friends, and that the organizer routinely "threatens to kill people" This, undoubtedly reminds Erica of the fights I had with Follis and begs the questions... When did we become so tolerant of jerks in our society? Is it something about "computer geeks" that brings this on? (this is a group of people from SomethingAwful) Or is this normal? Does every social circle just have that one asshole that everyone tolerates and even likes because of his assholery (or at least everyone tells him that they like it)? Today, a friend told me that people hang out with assholes because the assholes are nice to them and that makes them feel good. I relate to that feeling, but I know better now. My friend also told me to hang out with people that have more self esteem, and he is right.
5.02.2005
Here's me and my baby at 11 weeks and 1 day along. Most women don't 'pop' (i.e. the large hard belly starts to stick out) until they are closer to 5 or 6 months if it's their first pregnancy. I'm a little concerned there's more than 1 little kid in there since I'm barely 4 months and have definitely 'popped' already! We have a sonogram scheduled for the 16th and we'll find out if we hear just 1 heartbeat or if there's actually 2 in there! Hopefully, only 1, not sure how I would deal with 2 babies at once! Anyways, I'll try to keep weekly pics posted on my website and I won't post a billion here so go there if you are interested!
 
5.01.20054.30.2005
(Because I'm bored.)
LUCKY 13 Bring up a playlist on your computer and hit shuffle. Write down the first 13 words you hear in each song, and *only* the first 13 words, even if the phrase is not complete. If the song has no words just skip to the next song. 1. You took your clothes off, stood in the rain. You were always crazy 2. Karma police, arrest this man, he talks in maths. He buzzes like a 3. I turned around too late to see the falling star. I fell asleep 4. Mine, immaculate dream made of breath and skin, I’ve been waiting for you 5. I’m down a one way street with a one night stand, with a 6. Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick and think of you 7. I’m only pretty sure that I can’t take any more before you take 8. If you, if you could return, don’t let it burn, don’t let it 9. Are these times contagious? I’ve never been this bored before. Is this the 10. I will meet you in some place where the light lends itself to 11. She says it’s cold outside and she hands me my raincoat. She’s always 12. The sea swells like a sore head and the night it is aching 13. You. You. You, still a whisper on my lips, feel it in my * * * I have to say...there's some pretty good imagery in there. And some pretty crappy writing, as well. Huh. 4.24.2005How I Almost Got Raped by Some Drunk Asshole or: yes, alaska does have the highest rate of sexual violence in the nation I was hanging out with my next door neighbor, Jon. We were watching Big on TBS, or whatever channel it is that plays random 80s movies at 1 am. So, we're half watching the movie and half talking about Jon's recent breakup, when his roommate, Francis came home. Rock knows Francis, by the way. When she was here, we had some drinks with Francis (and with Jon). Francis is a good drinker. When we were at the bar, the bartender actually refused to serve Francis because he'd had more than the legal limit of 6 (?) shots in an hour. Yeah. Good drinker. And Francis's friends are better drinkers. So. Francis came home, drunk as hell. Bear in mind that this is the weekend before finals, so everyone on campus -- except me and Jon -- was trashed. Francis was bleeding. Turns out his best friend hit him in the face at some party, for no reason. Which is why Francis left the party. So. Francis came in and watched the movie with us. He'd only been home for maybe 10 minutes when there was a knock on the door. Well, "knock" is an understatement. It was more like someone was trying to break the door down while screaming incoherently at the top of his lungs. It was Fred, the guy who hit Francis. Francis did not open the door, and Fred eventually went away. OK. Good. A while later, Jon decided that he needed a shower. (Jon's weird like that. Sometimes, he just needs a shower. Or to change his clothes. Or whatever.) Fine. Jon's in the shower, Francis is drunk, we're watching Big. About 5 minutes after Jon got in the shower, Fred was back, louder and more violent than before. "Shit," Franics said. "Oh shit." Keep in mind that it's finals week, so the housing people are really bitchy about 24-hour-quiet-hours in the dorms. Drunk Francis doesn't want to get in trouble because his drunk, underage friend is banging on the door, kicking the wall, and screaming. Francis opened up the door, just a crack, and Fred forced his way in. Fred saw me, got the weirdest smile on his face, started to take his pants off, and stumbled across the room toward me. "Dude!" Francis was pissed. "Don't be actin' that way in front of girls!" Fred doesn't stop. "Dude! You can't do that! Dude! Put your pants back on!" I don't move because I'm terrified of the guy who beat Francis up. (Francis is a pretty big -- as in muscular -- guy, so the idea that someone can take Francis...well...yeah. Scary.) Fred kept coming at me, although slowly because he could barely stand up, and Francis keeps screaming. FINALLY, when Fred (also a big, muscular guy) was really-really-really close, Francis snapped out of his drunken state long enough to pick Fred up, and throw him against the bathroom door, thereby knocking Fred out. Francis then dragged him across the room and deposited him near the door, as far away from me as possible, but also preventing me from leaving. Not cool. Francis was too drunk to realize that he should have dragged Fred into the hallway. I suggested it, but Francis was too busy microwaving some food. Stupid drunks. So when Fred-the-potential-rapist came to and started leering again, his pants still unzipped, Francis started yelling at him again. Jon came out of the shower, very confused. He'd heard Fred slam against the bathroom door, he'd heard the screaming. "What's going on?" Jon said. He, having just gotten out of the shower, is only wearing his boxers. "Signe almost got raped," Francis said. "Motherfuckin' Fred's too damn drunk." And that's when Fred attacked Francis again, calling him a "fucking faggot." (Somehow drunk Fred thought that Francis was putting the moves on mostly-naked-Jon, which was certainly not the case.) Fortunately, Francis was smart enough to get Fred into the hallway, and eventually got Fred upstairs to his room. When Fred came back AGAIN, half an hour later, Francis was smart enough not to open the goddamn door. I have never seen anyone so drunk in my life. Not even Andy the night he tried to drink his desk. And I did not bear witness to Eric's mustard incident, but I'm pretty sure that Fred was even more wasted than that... It was not pleasant. Alaska is a bad, bad place. 4.20.2005
Finally, something is getting done about this ridiculous No Child Left Behind Act. What do you guys think of No Child Left Behind?
4.19.20054.18.2005
4.13.2005
I'm so glad that Britney Spears's pregnancy is posted on CNN's mainpage. It's not like there are more important things going on in the world.
Also on the CNN mainpage: Wisconsin is considering making it legal to hunt cats -- yes, cats. This includes housecats (pets!) with collars. It's a great day for news. 4.08.2005
4.05.2005
For some reason this part isn't coming out right - it's supposed to be at the bottom of this little table thing! My sister outscored me by far!
You scored higher than 1% on proof (yeah I know I suck!) You scored higher than 84% on beer index You scored higher than 93% on wine index You scored higher than 84% on liquor index
4.04.20054.03.2005
Prom!
More pics here, here, here, here, and here 4.02.2005 hand holding - you like to be in constant physical contact with your special someone but you don't want to take things too quickly. What Sign of Affection Are You? brought to you by Quizilla Interesting. I think that someone in particular would disagree with this assessment -- I mean, about the wanting to always be in physical contact. That was a big complaint. The taking things slowly? For sure. How many years did that relationship take to come to fruition? 3.29.2005
In case you haven't heard yet, Jacob & I are pregnant! I'm about 7 weeks along and we're expecting our baby on November 21st - my sister's birthday. We've known since March 14th, but didn't tell our parents until this last weekend, so now we can tell everyone without worrying about them finding out! My next appointment is for the 15th of April when I'll have the first ultrasound done and we'll know for sure how far along we are and a better idea of a due date. Check out Jacob's website for a video message from us!
Some more good news is that I got my first contracted job. I'll be teaching summer school for the Wautoma School District! I get to design my own course - it's in computers, so it should be a chance to get really creative! I'll be teaching students who will be going into 1st - 5th grades! The pay is great and the experience will be wonderful! 3.27.2005
Think about going back in time. You think you'd be so superior to these people because you have however many hundreds of years of knowledge over them. But do you? Doubtful. How does an internal combustion engine work? I don't know. How is electricity produced? I have only the vaguest notion. How does plumbing work? How is plastic made? How is sound recorded? There are a few things I could help them with, depending on how much I've memorized from my science classes.
What it comes down to is that the majority of us know very little about the technology we use in our every day lives. Yet we act as though we do, and we're ready to tell researchers what to do and how to do it. We'll fund NASA and other types of organizations/r&d as we see fit, even though we really have no idea what it is they do or how important the discoveries they make may be. 3.15.2005
Today I had to help a guy get sound to the computer he was using in the section of the library where I work so he could watch porn videos. It made me a little uncomfortable, but as a librarian, I'm not supposed to question. Once he starts making a disturbance, which he hasn't yet, then I get to snap into action.... and call circulation (as I was told by other more experienced reference librarians)
2.26.2005
It’s 6:26 a.m. and I just got off the phone with Jeffrey. See…I accidentally called him at about 5:30 a.m. when I was plugging my phone in to charge the battery. And because it was 8:30 a.m. in Kentucky, he didn’t answer. So when he got up and saw that he had received a call from me (at 5:30 a.m. Alaska time!) he, of course, assumed that something was very wrong and called me back immediately. I explained what happened, and for a second he was completely OK with my explanation. And then…
Jeff: “Wait…what the hell were you doing awake at 5:30? Are you sure you’re OK?” Me: “I’m fine.” Jeff: “But…it’s quarter after six there and you answered on the second ring. Why are you STILL awake?” Me: “I haven’t been sleeping lately.” Jeff: “You’re not pregnant, are you?” I love how that’s his first question. It's a stupid question, because he knows just how impossible that would be…but…it's funny, nonetheless, because that's how his mind works. Sometimes I love that guy. OK...back to bed, not that I'll sleep. Do you people realize that it's been almost a month since I had a decent night's sleep? Aaugh. I think it might be time to head on over to Walgreens (oh, wait, we don't HAVE Walgreens in Alaska) and invest in some sleeping pills. Sleeping pills are scary, though, because I really do NOT want to become addicted to them. On the other hand, I really DO want to fall asleep. Conundrum. 2.25.20052.17.2005
Urs' post on her live journal or whatever was kind of cool so I thought I'd try it out. Go to www.images.google.com and type in the answers to the questions and see what comes up! Kind of fun! If you only look at one check the 1st one on 7 or the link to my grandma Janet's name :)
1. My 1st car except that mine was sky blue with a nice woody pannel down the side! (and it smoked blue stuff) 2. Place where you grew up 3. Where I live now 4. When I type my name in 5. When I type my Grandma's name in Janet Joyce 6. My favorite food 7. My favorite song and the other favorite (if the first link doesn't work - it's not working for me - just go to images.google.com and type in It's Your Love - it's the 1st pic that comes up and it's a great picture :) check it out!) 8. Favorite drink 9. Favorite smell 10. Favorite shoes (i wish my legs looked like that!) 2.14.2005
Bureaucracy: A Rant
Why is it so damn hard for the UAA financial aid office to change its official record of my email address? You wouldn't think this would be rocket science, right? I mean, I can go online and update my own phone number and address...but not my email address. Craziness, right? Especially since email is the university's primary means of contacting me. I mean, when's the last time financial aid gave me a phone call? Oh, that's right, NEVER. Financial aid DOES, however, email me information about my financial aid stuff. Often. And they send my emails to my UWEC email address, which will expire any day now. (Of course, I've thought that since October, since that's when UWEC claims to cut us off.) I figured, Hey, financial aid is important. I should probably update that so they have the right email and I'm not left in the dark about some missing paperwork that got filed in the wrong drawer or something. (Because it happens. It happened to me last semester. It took FOREVER for me to get my check. September was a pretty lean month, let me tell you.) Well. I went to the financial aid office and told them about my problem. I was promptly chastised for not using my UAA email address in the first place. I tried to explain that back when I began all of this financial aid business, I didn't even HAVE a UAA address yet because I wasn't officially enrolled at UAA; I had simply been "recommended for admission by the Department of Creative Writing and Literary Arts." I didn't officially get accepted -- that is, the papers weren't filed -- until July, too late to do a FAFSA and apply for loans and such. Oh. Well, finally the financial aid guy got around to telling me that he couldn't help me. He sent me over to registration. Registration told me that they already HAD my UAA email in the computer. I explained that I got THEIR emails, it was the FINANCIAL AID emails that were the problem. After putzing with the computer for twenty minutes, making me miss my shuttle back to campus -- because all of these offices are in a MALL that is NOT within walking distance of campus, a stroke of brilliance, let me tell you -- the lady finally told me that she couldn't help me, and sent me over to ENROLLMENT. The enrollment guy didn't know what to do, because all of THEIR stuff was going to my UAA email as well. He called over a financial aid guy -- not the one who yelled at me in the beginning -- who said that he didn't know what to do either. Christ. It's an email address. It shouldn't be this damn hard. So...together,Mr. Financial Aid and Mr. Enrollment filled out some paperwork for a miracle lady who supposedly knows everything. (I bet.) I'm guessing that I'll never get a financial aid email at my UAA address. Ever. It's just too hard. Everybody is trained for their specific little job, and nobody has a big picture of how the machine works. So when some little kink comes up -- like some girl who filled out her financial aid papers prior to having an official UAA email address -- everyone panics and tries to hand off responsibility to someone else. It's frustrating. Especially because this should be SIMPLE. Why the hell I can't just do it online, the way that I can change ANY OTHER ASPECT OF MY PERSONAL INFORMATION, is beyond me. I just don't understand.
This is an awesome site
http://www.gizoogle.com/ A sample of translated text from Sig's blog: I did a very bad bustin' ya feelin' me?. I tripped while carry'n a glass of wata 2.11.2005
The rumors are true, I have a boyfriend - we met online, talked and stuff and decided to have dinner on January 7 just to see if we didn't hate eachother, we didn't. Two weeks later we decided to make things official. His name is Will, he's 21 and works at Cleary University doing computer tech stuff.
This is his profile 1.21.2005
At first, I just posted this link in the comments on Erica's blog. But then I thought, "Hey, I bet other people would like to look at stuffed germs too!" That's right, folks...stuffed germs. Like...toys. You can buy something banal, the common cold or athlete's foot, or something a bit more exotic...like ebola!
Am I too easily amused? 1.14.2005
Scabies reminds me that if any of you or your pets gets any mites, fleas, lice, etc. you can send them to me. Oh yes, I want them. Not to become my own personal ecosystem, but because I am making a collection for insect systematics next fall. Storing them in ethanol is best, but otherwise any little container will do.
It's amazing how much better my PI gets along with men than with women. He is extremely formal with the girls in the lab, but we recently got a new (male) student and they are instantly thick as theives. He'll come into the lab and be like "Did you do this totally manly thing Saturday?" "Oh, me too! It was awesome." Yesterday they had a conversation at lunch about hunting wild pigs in California and how they make pig wallows or something. Seriously. There was so much testosterone in the air I started growing a beard. 1.12.2005
As I sat in my form and theory class, the theme of which is something like "Love and Death in Contemporary Fiction," I'm pretty sure that my heart momentarily stopped beating when my professor announced that our semester final project would be to write a love/romance story.
Are you fucking kidding me? Number one: I don't write fiction. Number two: I don't write about love. Number three: I don't know anything about love...do I? The reason we even have this course is quite simple. Most writers can't write about love and death without writing almost exclusively in the land of cliché and sentiment. We simply don't know how to do it, so we over-do it. The idea is that, if we read a lot of well-executed love stories, we'll somehow learn to write our own. (Although "death" is also in the course title all of our texts are marketed as love stories, so I'm not sure where the death fits in to things.) Anyway. The big question is, How can I invent a love story? How can I invent a love story that's believable and that's not a parody of every love story ever written, made into a film, or recycled in a pop song? This is going to be an interesting semester. I'm terrified. Holy shit. And, to make things worse, there are only FOUR people in my class, so I'm going to have to talk. I'm going to have to speak at a graduate level about fiction...and, even worse, about love. Oh god. What I learned in class last night: Approaches to writing a sex scene. Oh no. What if I have to write a sex scene in my love story? I don't think my character can just lay there... Lauren: You'll be pleased to know that my love stories class isn't hetero-centric. (Is that a word?) We're reading a lesbian romance and also a gay romance. Randomness: Authors of Harlequin romance novels get paid $2,000/book, and churn out a new book every five weeks. Maybe I ought to look in to that. I could write some formulaic crap, calling the penis a "sword" and the vagina a "sheath," methinks. It might be fun. And I could use some lame-ass pen name, like Jade Midnight. Ingrid's random question of the day: "What causes scabies?" Apparently one of the people on The Real World has it. Eeeeew. 1.10.2005
Instructions: Copy this list of 10 authors. Remove the ones not on your bookshelves and replace each of them with ones that are. (Replaced authors are in bold.)
Here's mine: 1. Truman Capote 2. Toni Morrison 3. Don DeLillo 4. Tobias Wolff 5. Augusten Burroughs 6. Jack Kerouac 7. Margaret Atwood 8. Annie Dillard 9. E.L. Doctorow 10. William Shakespeare
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